


More Like a Warm Cup of Tea Type of Guy

by Dencenlee



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: 3-A trio - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Chiakana mention, Does this also count as a college au? I think it does, Kaoru bi crisis incoming, M/M, POV Alternating, Possibly more characters to be added later(?)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-07-05 11:50:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15863043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dencenlee/pseuds/Dencenlee
Summary: It’s the late shift so things are uneventful and slow as per usual. The cafe is cozy at this time of day nothing can be heard over the smooth jazz and the occasional shuffling and clinking of cups. There are only a few stragglers remaining in the shop and it’s only couple more hours till closing, no customers would bother to come in at this hour, right?Wrong.[Enstars Coffee Shop AU]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In this house we love ReiKao.

_“Tired”_

_“Sleepy”_

Those were the only words that came to mind as Kaoru wiped down the empty tables in the Cafe. It’s Tuesday, nowhere near close to the weekend wonders of sleeping in, but it's not enough to stop him from wishing he was curled up in his bed right about now.

Today was exhausting, to say the least. 

Skipping classes, in theory, sounded like a great idea but that also means Kaoru would be behind and it’s even more of a pain to put in the extra effort to catch up. He's determined to put his days of frequently blowing off going to class are behind him, he’s going to properly do his work from now on, he’s going to be a good student! 

Or at least a decent one at best.

“University is fun, it gets easier,” they all say, yeah, Kaoru certainly isn’t feeling that one at all.

Balancing everything that life’s thrown at him has been an adventure in itself. He didn’t even expect to be able to land a sufficient job with his poor excuse for qualifications, but here he is nonetheless.

He should be thankful the owner is such a sweet old lady. That and that he’s good at smooth talking or else he’d be in a real bind.

It’s true that Kaoru comes from a well-off family, but he certainly doesn’t live like it. Juggling bills, school expenses, and personal necessities is hard work, plus, he wants to go out and have fun every now and again (more like every week) so there needs to be room in the budget for that too!

However, asking for an increase isn't something that's on his To-Do list right now.

There are too many holes to count when it comes to his relationship with his father, they’ve become so distanced from one another that the only contact he gets with him nowadays is the time when his bank account gets a monthly refill to pay for his necessities. A simple phone call from his father is a rare event.

 _“Maybe I should call…”_

A shout from behind breaks Kaoru out of his meandering thoughts.

“Oi, are you even listening?”

Kaoru turns around to see an irritated Izumi glaring at him from behind the counter.

Izumi, one of Kaoru’s many co-workers. Although they are of the same age Izumi is his manager and the one who trained him. He lives in town but goes to a university in the next city over. Kaoru discovered some of the photoshoots Izumi’s been in through magazines scattered throughout the cafe. Owner Grandma says that Izumi models as a side gig, apparently, she likes to collect the magazines Izumi’s appeared in and display them around the place like a proud mother supporting her son.

Izumi sighs in defeat, “Don’t go spacing out on me Kao-kun or your next shift will be in the morning”

“Senacchi have mercy on me.”

“Then listen up, I’m taking the trash out and taking inventory so cover the register for me till closing.”

“I’m on it~” Kaoru gives an apathetic smile leaving his washcloth behind as he makes his way over to the checkout counter.

It’s the late shift so things are uneventful and slow as per usual. The cafe is cozy at this time of day nothing can be heard over the smooth jazz and the occasional shuffling and clinking of cups. There are only a few stragglers remaining in the shop and it’s only couple more hours till closing, no customers would bother to come in at this hour, right?

Wrong.

Just as Kaoru was about to break a rule and pull out his phone to kill time, possibly hitting up the cute girl he met the other day, the chime of the bell signaling the front door has opened keeps his hand from even reaching his back pocket.

_“I swear if this person orders coffee they either must be crazy or have a serious deadline to meet in the next few hours.”_

He winces slightly at that thought, that’s an all too familiar feeling.

Kaoru accidentally forgets to welcome them, forgive him, it’s late he’s tired. Hoping to rectify the mistake he made he puts on the warmest forced smile he can possibly achieve. 

It's too bad it didn’t last very long.

Kaoru loses brain cells at the worst of times for all his mind could think of was “Holy shit, they’re pretty” along with many other iterations of the phrase as the customer made their way up to the counter. For mere seconds he conveniently forgets that he’s strictly into girls as his mind then pumps its breaks and graciously supplies his previous thoughts with “for a guy” as if that would put him at ease.

It should’ve.

But it doesn’t.

 _“This isn’t fair,”_ Kaoru thinks.

_“It should be illegal to be that good looking”_

Taking everything in he can't help but admire how smooth the customer's skin was. They are on the paler side but it's surprisingly a good look for them, heavily contrasting with the wavy black hair that cascades down to their shoulders.

But the most captivating feature is by far their eyes.

They’re such a deep brilliant red that Kaoru feels that if he stared at them properly he could get lost in them.

It’s a good thing that they’re too occupied with looking at the menu to notice Kaoru’s staring. 

He needs reel it in. 

Thinking of how popular this guy must be with… well... everyone brings Kaoru back down to earth. He grumbles a little at the thought of being 2nd place to this guy and like that normal Kaoru is back in town.

Perfect timing too because the good-looking customer just finished looking through the menu.

“Everything on the menu sounds delightful I simply do not know what to choose. What would you recommend?” 

“Well, everything here is just as good as it sounds, according to what people say at least. The lattes here a pretty good all thanks to yours truly” Kaoru gestures towards himself in a jokingly exaggerated way. 

They let out a chuckle.

_“They laughed. Nice.”_

“I’m sure the drinks you make are excellent, however, I don’t particularly fancy sweet drinks.” they give an empathetic smile dismissing the notion with the wave their hand

“I figured just as much, rather than the sugary stuff you strike me as more of a warm cup of tea type of guy?”

“You’d be correct in your assumptions. Congratulations” They play along and give Kaoru mini applause for his efforts. To which Kaoru is grateful for because he didn’t know what he’d do if he guessed wrong.

“All of the tea here is really good, I haven’t tried them myself but I have a friend who drinks the herbal stuff on a regular She likes Chamomile? Apparently, there’s honey in it but it has a bittersweet taste, I think you’d like it?” Kaoru points to where the item in question is located on the menu.

_“Please take my suggestion I know the bare minimum when it comes to tea!”_

They look to where Kaoru is pointing and think about it for a few seconds.

“I’ll take your suggestion if that’s what you recommend but I’m holding you accountable if I don’t like it” They say jokingly smirking while reaching into their backpack to fish out their wallet.

“Ahaha fair enough, if you don’t like it come back next time and I’ll treat you.” Kaoru begins to ring them up only quickly glancing upwards to catch a glimpse of an 'all knowing' smile plastered upon the customers face after what he just offered. It's a smile that makes you regret your existence in a sense, similar to the smile on Izumi's face when he catches Kaoru trying to cover up his embarrassing mistakes. Kaoru quickly goes back to what he was doing or else he feels that those eyes will end up looking straight into his soul. 

Kaoru hears another small chuckle from them and for split second he forgets how to press the buttons on the register.

“That’ll be $3.25. Can I get a name?”

“Rei.”

_“Rei huh.”_

“What a nice name, I knew a couple of girls named Rei” He receives the weirdly exact amount of cash needed from Rei and proceeds to write his name down.

_“Wait, should I have said that???”_

“Is that so?” Rei quirks an eyebrow “Well it is true that in the past I knew of a couple of girls named Kaoru as well” 

_“Shit.”_

There’s that look again. 

“Eh~ Really~ I guess the two of us having popular girls names is something that we have in common” Kaoru has a playful yet pained expression on his face, this isn’t exactly where expected this encounter to go. What a weird thing to have in common.

Kaoru hands Rei his receipt only now remembering to ask if he wanted it for here or to go. It wasn’t until Rei said what he wanted and gave his thanks while walking over to wait by the pick-up counter that Kaoru had realized what Rei had said.

_“Hold up, for here? Why did he decide to sit in a café and drink tea at this time night?”_

Kaoru takes a glance at the clock, it's 9:30 pm, then looks over back a Rei. Squints. He has many questions, but they’ll have to wait. He has a job to do still.

Kaoru starts to prepare the tea. Usually their Chamomile tea is always fresh using the flowers Owner Grandma grows in her garden; but unfortunately, during the winter months, they have to use the store-bought stuff because Chamomile flowers go dormant when it gets cold. It really is a shame that Rei won’t be able to experience the tea at it’s finest quality.

Not that Kaoru cares! It's just tea!

Kaoru presses the proper buttons on the electric kettle and watches the machine work its magic. He walks over to the cabinet that houses all of their wares. The one thing this shop prides themselves on, besides the quality drinks, is the wide selection of tea cups they use from Owner Grandma’s collection. He really isn’t a tea guy but it’s fun to pick out tea sets that they would think would match the customer's personality, the wide variety of colors and patterns makes picking just one a difficult choice. 

Kaoru glances at Rei.

_“Something gothic for sure.”_

Kaoru browses through the tea sets until he finds the one he needs. It’s an old one, Izumi said something about it being from Europe? It’s white with a black handle and a heavy black lace pattern lining the lip of the cup, a matching pattern to the edge of the saucer it pairs with. The interior of the cup is also a clean white and oddly enough at the bottom has a kinda creepy looking bat on it. 

A perfect fit in Kaoru's opinion. 

Kaoru inspects the cup checking to make sure it’s clean and free of dust, then looks back at Rei who is currently occupying themselves with taking in the decor. How many times is he going to keep looking at Rei, Kaoru doesn't know, Rei is fun to look at.

Yeah

Fun to look at... 

“WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT HAKAZE?”

Busting through the kitchen doors located behind Kaoru Chiaki asks rather loudly. He jumps a little, nearly dropping the priceless cup he’s holding, it really is too quiet for Chiaki to be shouting.

Chiaki is Kaoru’s other co-worker. He works more in the back preparing stuff and doing the heavy lifting rather than out front dealing with customers. Kaoru didn’t find out until he started working here but apparently they go to the same university, sometimes Chiaki catches him on the way to work and (much to Kaoru’s reluctance at times) they walk together. He’s Owner Grandma’s favorite, apparently before Chiaki started working at the cafe he’d always help her out, he’s like her honorary grandson.

“Lower your voice Morisawa you’re disturbing the peace.” Kaoru playfully hits Chiaki’s forehead with a nearby spoon.

Chiaki laughs a little rubbing his forehead in pain. He then follows Kaoru’s previous line of sight he locates just what or in this case who Kaoru was staring at.

“OOHHH~ Was it him?!” Chiaki gestures directly towards Rei.

“HEY! WHAT- no- I- Jeez Moricchi! Don’t point at him, you’re so weirdly observant when you don’t need to be!” Kaoru slaps Chiaki’s hand down from pointing at Rei.

“I was just watching, making sure he wasn’t getting impatient, his orders not done yet because this old electric kettle is so slow.” It’s true that the electric kettle they use has seen better days Kaoru can’t even tell what year it’s from.

“But Hakaze! You never look at guys for longer than a few seconds! C’mon that must mean he’s caught your attention right??”

“No, wrong I just don’t want to have an angry customer on my hands, I’m too tired to deal that.” Kaoru states flatly.

Chiaki opens his mouth to say something but Kaoru cuts him off.

“Don’t go there Moricchi. From my recent memory, you always get exceedingly embarrassed when talking about things involving romance.”

“AH!” Gotcha Chiaki.

“Like how your face gets super red whenever you talk about Kanata.” Kaoru had bent down to grab some of the decoration that goes on the saucer but he can tell that Chiaki’s face just turned two shades of bright red. 

“How is Kanata-kun by the way, he hasn’t come by here in awhile~ I hope you two are doing well, whenever you're not around Kanata always likes to say such sweet things about you~” Kaoru finds the bag of fake chamomile flowers and looks at Chiaki directly in his eyes with the slyest smile on his face.

“We- we’re fine! Kanata is just busy with work at the aquarium that’s all!” Chiaki manages to sputter out. Honestly, it’s kind of endearing how embarrassed he gets.

“Eh~ is that so~ That’s good to hear.” Kaoru is still toying with him, it’s fun.

“You win this round Hakaze.” Chiaki admits defeat. “But I still stand by what I said!” Visibly calmer now Chiaki makes his way back to the kitchen.

“Yeah yeah, when nothing happens you’ll be the first to know” Kaoru sees him off with sarcasm and a wave. They both stifle some laughter as Chiaki closes the kitchen doors.

Kaoru gets the feeling that someone is looking at him, out of the corner of his eye he sees Rei softly laugh to himself. Kaoru guesses he must’ve observed he and Chiaki’s interaction and feels his cheeks warm up in embarrassment.

Kaoru opens the bag of fake flowers and as if on cue the kettle finally finishes and makes that high pitched whistle sounds he’s been waiting for. Kaoru pours the tea into the cup and can’t help but enjoy how good it smells, it has both a sweet and calming aroma. He places the tiny fake flowers around the base of the cup and below in one of the drawers, he fishes out some of the nicely wrapped animal shaped cookies they had that go with every purchase and placed them nicely on the plate.

Operation: Make the Tea is a success.

Carefully he brings the still very hot cup of tea over to where Rei was waiting.

“I apologize for the wait. Oh and be careful it’s still hot” Sliding slowly the cup over to Rei.

“Thank you, it smells lovely” Rei politely smiles before walking over to the back corner of the shop. 

Kaoru resumes cleaning and organizing things as he was earlier humming along to the tune of the soft jazz playing overhead occasionally looking up at the clock counting down the minutes till closing time. Which unfortunately is not for another 40 minutes.

Every now and again he’d look to the back corner of the shop to where Rei has made himself comfortable. Book in hand staring fondly at the teacup Kaoru had picked out. While wiping down the front counter Kaoru watched as Rei cooled down and finally took a sip of the tea.

The smile that appeared on Rei’s face moments afterwards was so warm, so tender, so stupidly captivating Kaoru in turn also found himself smiling as he turned back to cleaning the counter.

_“Guess I won’t be treating him to a cup anytime soon” ___

__Too occupied with organizing the lower shelves Kaoru didn’t get to witness Rei leave but heard enough chimes of the door opening to know that all the remaining customers had left. Which is good because it’s 10 minutes till closing and Kaoru doesn’t have to politely kick anyone out._ _

__He collects the dishes left behind and dumps them over onto Chiaki as he’s on dish duty today._ _

__“Kao-kun we’re mostly done back here, Morisawa is closing up today so you can head out now.” Sena graces Kaoru with one of his rare smiles and ushers him out. It’s music to Kaoru’s ears though because he thinks his exhaustion has reached its peak by now._ _

__He bids his co-workers goodbye and clocks out._ _

__Stretching as he makes his way down the street he can’t wait to reach his apartment and flop onto his bed and go to sleep._ _

__Truly today had been more tiring than ever._ _


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well-cushioned seats and teacups.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the Rei exposition chapter.

Rei finds himself more and more frequently stopping by the small cafe, so much so that if he keeps this up he’ll be able to call himself a regular. 

But in all honesty, this tiny shop is such a gem. 

They have a really substantial variety of tea to try that Rei decided he’d make it a point to taste a new one every time he stopped by. The decor is so warm and inviting so much so that, if he could, he would totally make this place his permanent home, these seats are too comfortable, far too comfortable any cafe to be allowed to have. 

There’s an assortment of whimsical, intriguing things about the cafe that Rei finds charming; from their selection of literature on a bookshelf that takes up the entire wall, it’s interesting that about half of the books are in English. To the assortment of both old and new magazines and tattered knickknacks scattered about the shop. Or maybe to the baby grand piano that sits at the back of the shop, collecting dust as if it hasn’t been graced with the presence someone willing to play it in years.

This place hits all of his aesthetic and comfort points honestly.

There is... one other thing that may not be as whimsical but is still just intriguing.

That thing may or may not be the reason as to why Rei finds himself coming back here so frequently.

In all reality, it is less of “something” and more of _“someone”_ to which Rei finds so intriguing…

______

The welcoming bell of the front door opening chimes, signaling that Rei has entered the establishment. He receives a resounding welcome and a friendly smile from the old lady who owns the place, they’ve become quite good pals as Rei now stops by often, and whenever she’s around they have nice long chats about their favorite jazz songs or other things of that sort. 

As some of his friends have told him time and time again Rei does truly have old people taste. 

Walking up to the counter he takes a long look at the menu, today he’ll go with Cinnamon Tea, a fitting flavor as at this point in time it is currently winter.

He orders a cup and nothing else.

Once paid for Rei makes his way over to his favorite corner of the shop, the back corner, truly the greatest corner Rei has ever had the pleasure of sitting in, it’s the best corner, quiet and cozy. Shedding off his outer winter layers, truly embracing the comfort of the cafe heating system Rei makes himself comfortable as he waits for his order to finish.

_“It’s a shame he must not be here today…”_

Wavering a bit before dismissing the thought and decides to get started on what else he came here for. 

Reaching into his bag pulling out multiple sheets of paper he spreads them out on the table. They’re music scores, all of them, some have seen better days riddled with scribbles and music notes while others are clean and have yet to have been used. His inspiration tank has been running on empty these past few weeks and with a big performance just around the corner, Rei is pressed for that final burst of creativity to hit him so he can finish composing. 

If that could happen sometime soon that would be great.

It’s not long before Rei’s name is called and he walks over and picks up his tea and sets it down in a clearing amongst the scattered papers. He swears if he spills a single drop of tea on any of these papers he’ll toss himself out of one of the cafes several windows (they’re on the ground floor so it’s not like it’ll hurt him much, but still, it’s the principle that counts.)

Today's cup is a lovely shade of bright red. It doesn’t look as old and antique as the last one as it is in reasonable condition but he assumes it is still just as priceless. The cup is interestingly enough quite angular, at the base, there is a shimmering elegant floral gold trim that wraps around the entire cup, the interior is just a plain white but still houses that same gold trim.

And there are no weird bats at the bottom of the cup this time. Just a simple red rose.

The saucer also upholds the same design just inverted and placed delicately next to the cup are two cinnamon sticks and animal cookie in the shape of a bear.

Rei admires the cup for a while. They really do pay attention to the little things, it makes him wonder why this place isn’t more popular.

Then again if this place suddenly gained a lot of traffic the entire atmosphere of the cafe would change, they wouldn’t put in the extra effort on the little things, the magic of this place would be gone. Rather, it’s better how it is currently.

Rei’s thoughts roam aimlessly before he snaps out of it, he needs to get back to the task at hand.

He hones in and concentrates on what is hopefully the last time he works on composing this godforsaken piece.

_____

How many minutes have passed, two or three or thirty? He came in at 8 pm and looking up at the clock read that it is now 9:15 pm more time has passed than he originally thought. In that extended time span he has maybe put down four solid notes but the rest of that time was either spent twiddling his thumbs in idle mindless thought or reworking the melody for the fifth time.

 _“How vexing.”_ Rei thinks to himself.

Sighing leaning back into the well-cushioned booth in defeat, teacup emptied, Rei wonders if this place gives refills. 

He's not relatively sleepy in any way but acting as more of a means to destress Rei exhales whilst closing his eyes to relax a bit. Maybe once he clears his mind maybe then he’ll find his will to continue forward.

Getting comfortable to listen to the smooth jazz playing overhead he spends a few seconds in comforting peace before the door adjacent to where he is sat swings open.

“I’m going on break Moricchi! You can handle the rest of the sorting by yourself.” A familiar voice shouts right next to him.

“Ah! But Hakaze!” Another voice calls from further away.

“Cut me some slack~ I haven’t had one my entire shift, I won’t be gone for too long. I promise~♪” 

“That’s what you said the last-” Alas the furthest voice gets cut off by the sound of the door shutting.

Curious, Rei opens one eye to put a face to the voice he heard, he has an idea but he wants to make sure his assumptions are correct. 

And sure enough, much to Rei’s pleasure he is indeed correct.

Hakaze Kaoru has just made his appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this was going to be one long chapter but instead, I decided to split it into two shorter ones.
> 
> Trying to figure out if Rei would be the type of person to say "vexing" Answer: He would
> 
> The next chapter will have more dialogue.

**Author's Note:**

> Me: *doesn't drink tea and doesn't know anything about it* Let's write a fic about it


End file.
